Today is the first day of June, and that means that it is the beginning of a bittersweet month. June is the last full month I will spend in Germany since I leave part way through July. I read through a few of my posts from earlier in this journey of mine, and it is so funny to read posts from November in which I declare that I can't believe I've lived in Germany for 4 months. Time flies. Fast forward, and now it's been exactly 10 months and roughly 3 hours since I stepped off the plane to begin my year here.
I got exactly what I came here for, although for most of the time I've been here it hasn't felt that way. I sought something new, unfamiliar, challenging, and exciting. My evolution as a foreigner has been quite the adventure. I'm incredibly excited to go home-- I'll be honest about that; however, I can already start to feel the nostalgia. I can already sense what I'm going to miss once I step foot back in the States. I'm starting to understand how this journey has changed me, how it has become part of me.
And I have the sneaking suspicion that my return will not be as easy as I imagine it will be. All of these small things that I have encountered in Germany, all of the differences that I have not only experienced but also learned how to be part of or at least live with, will no longer be part of my daily life. There will be the small aspects of American culture that I have forgotten, and I will have to remember how to readjust and reimmerse.
This year has been so sweet and so difficult. The lows were real low. But the highs have been tip top. The next month will be also sweet and difficult, not difficult in terms of cultural assimilation, but difficult because the time is finite. The end of the tunnel is within sight. How could it be that my year in Germany is nearly over? Wow.
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